The Miseducation of Jimbo Slice

Smolov, Week 2, Day 2 - the hard day

A) Box Jumps:
up to 4x reds + 1x yellow (87%) 3x3 and a few missed reps

Snatch Grip High Pulls:
up to 80kg 3x2

C) HBBS, no belt:
warm up to 140kg x2
170kg 5x7 (...in 23 minutes)

Anyone who's followed my log will know I DESPISE this day in the smolov cycle. It's always the one that scares the sh*t outta me, but I know if I get thru it, I'll usually finish the cycle.

Well today for some reason I absolutely SLAUGHTERED the workout. I have no idea what's going on, but I can only assume the RFD / Power work, and the 30+ minutes of static stretching each day is having a massive massive benefit.

Moved thru things so smoothly it was scary.

Last year, I did the same workout, with the same weight - but it was low bar, belted and on parallel. Today was the opposite of all those things. Progress can't just be measured by the weight on the bar.... But I know when I do hit a low bar max effort rep, it'll be cray cray.

Video to come.

Smolov, Week 2, Day 3

A) Hang Power Clean:
up to 105kg 3x2

HBBS, no belt:
warm ups to 160kg x1
180kg 7x5 extremely drama free

7th set here...



Things to report? Mneh. Boxes ticked. Workout done. Pizza eaten.

Smolov, Week 3, Day 1

A) Seated Box Jump:
warm up to 5x reds x2
5x reds + 1x yellow (46 inches) 3x2

Snatch Grip High Pull
50kg x3
80kg 3x2

C) HBBS Beltless:
warm up to 140kg x2
165kg 4x9

warm up box jumps;



Nice little session. The seated box jumps are feeling scary powerful at the moment. Totally unsure what's going on there.

Not sure I like the snatch pulls. Probably need some hands on stuff with a coach to dial em in a bit before moving forwards.

The squats weren't too bad. Never hard at all, but always just bleurgh. Had to change tekkers for the last 3 sets cos my knee was achy. Widened the stance a tad and turned my toes out and really got it feeling right for the 4th set.

Have some MASSIVE chunks in my arse that I need to work out over the next few days for sure (...weh weh weh).

Jumpz:


Squatz:

Smolov, Week 3, Day 3

A) Seated Box Jumps:
up to about 44in 5x2

HBBS no belt:
warm up to 160kg x1
185kg 7x5 ...very easily

1st set, still waking up:



Hilariously drama free day today. Took it easy on the box jumps cos I was on an unfamiliar set of boxes with innocent bystanders around to fall onto.

Sqautting was just brilliant. No drama at all. Bit of flex in the bar threw me off on some of the reps (nearly fell over on 140kg) but in the end I crushed thru it like a baws.

Provided I'm not too hungover in the morning, 195kg 10x3 should be easy.

Smolov, Week 3, Day 4 -wahoooo!

A) Box Jumps:
warm ups to 46 inches x1
48 inches 3x1 - very happy here with heavy legs

High Bar Beltless Squat:
warm ups to 170kg x1
195kg 5x3
200kg 5x3

A disconcertingly easy finish to the Smolov base.

VERY surprised with the jumps considering how heavy my legs should have felt after yesterday. Be interesting to see what I can manage fresh. Once I test in a week's time I'll be doing a lot of compensatory acceleration stuff for the following 2 weeks and will probably experiment with weighted jumps then too.

The squats themselves were bad ass. I was always gonna try a few sets at 200kg. The first set or 2 at 195kg was pretty crap, totally off balance, poor positions etc, but as normal as they went on they got better.

The fourth and fifth set of 195kg were so smooth and sweet that I decided it was time to go up.

High bar squat is feeling great. BUT I can't fathom the idea of me doing 230-240kg high bar beltless squat. Which is what the post smolov calculations suggest. But I'll load up the bar until something crushes me and see what happens this time next week!!!!!!

Gonna test deadlift Thursday week and channel the power of Kieran with his deadlift bar and belt. I've a feeling I should do something STUPIDLY big (for me) but I don't want to put a number on it. I think 280kg+ is honestly realistic based off recent performances (240x4 handy enough beltless pull) but the DL is such a mother****er you can never know.

Anyway, check out this progress with my HBBS:

This was 190kg x1 back at the end of July;



And this was like the 7th set above 195kg today, after 185kg 7x5 yesterday. 200kg x3;



So you could say it's been a succesful few months of training.

Cube Predator, Week 1, Day 2

A) Bench:
warm ups to 100kg x2
125kg 5x3, mostly paused, all hard
107.5kg x11, x9

Palm Facing DB Bench:
25kg x10
30kg x8
35kg x6
40kg x6

C) Incline Bench:
60kg x5
85kg x3 - stupid spreadsheet
85kg 3x5

D) DB French Press:
10kg x15
12.5kg x15
10kg 2x15

E) Lat Pulldown:
up to plate 8 3x12

F) Military Press, standing, on my feet, without a back support:
30kg x12
35kg 3x12

Think that was it. It can go **** itself.

Beltless High Bar Back Squat progress:

24th July 2014: 190kg
12th October 2014: 210kg
16th November 2014: 225kg

...that's alright!

A1) Front Squats up to 140kg x1
A2) Box Jumps up to something

Deadlifts up to 180kg x1

...felt ****, left it there, went and ate some frogs, then drew some pictures.